Kiss the Sky by Krista Ritchie, Becca Ritchie Read Free Book Online

girl.”
    “Yes, we’re all savages at Penn. You should see the football
team. They live in caves and eat with their hands.”
    Her shoulders fall. “I know I’m spoiled and a bitch, but I’m
uncomfortable at the idea of someone walking in on me.”
    “The showers have misted glass. You can’t see through them.”
That’s not entirely true. I’d be able to see her body fairly well. “And you
walked in on me three days ago.” The mention of our moment in the
bathroom—where she found me masturbating, where I hiked her leg around my
waist—has her whole body tensing in arousal. She crosses her arms to cover the
flush that rises on her neck. Only the mention of her sex life (or lack
thereof) can make her so flustered.
    “This is different.”
    “I know.” Lo, Lily, Daisy, and Ryke will be sharing the space too. Adding me was like skipping two stairs at a time
for her. With them, it’s like trying to stretch over five. “But everyone’s
uncomfortable, not just you.”
    She groans in distress. “I didn’t want to put them in this
situation. The reality show wasn’t supposed to uproot their lives like this.”
    I usually say the right thing. I’m obviously doing a shitty
job today. The psychic and Scott have scrambled my head.
    I wrap an arm around her shoulder. “Lily wants to help
Calloway Couture. She’d do anything for you. And they’ll all adapt quickly.” To
make amends with Rose, Lily even sacrificed being close to her college. She’ll
be taking online classes so she doesn’t fall behind.  
    Rose stops pacing with my touch. Ben documents her reaction
with the zoom of his camera. She stares up into my blue eyes and leans close,
her leg pressed against mine.
    I comb her glossy hair away from her cheeks, and her arms
cling to my waist. I ask, “Are you going to talk about Scott when I kiss you
from now on? Or is it only going to be when we have sex?”
    She clenches my button-down, fisting the fabric, and tries
to throttle me for that comment, but I stay unmoving at her attempt, too strong
to be overpowered by her, even if she puts up a good fight. With a huff, she
stops trying to shake me. “One day,” she says, “I’m going to slap you on
impulse, and then I’m going to feel like utter shit.” I read her eyes that say: maybe we should break up before it
happens. Maybe we’re not good together.
    “You won’t feel like shit,” I tell her, “because I’ll punish
you for it.”
    Her lips slowly part. “You’ll punish me?” She chokes on a
laugh. “In what way?”
    “Just trust me when I tell you that you’ll love it.”
    She swallows hard and shakes her head. “I don’t see how I
could love a punishment.”
    “It won’t be like detention in prep school, Rose.” Remember, I have your best interest at
heart.
    She inhales deeply and she stares at my lips again, silently
asking me to come a little closer.   Just
as I go to kiss her, a jingling sound echoes through the open kitchen that’s in
sight of the living room. No walls between any of them.
    Sadie, my orange tabby cat, pads over to us, the bells on
her collar clinking together. Rose spent an hour wrestling my cat just to put
the thing on her while I was in class. She wants to know Sadie’s location so
she can avoid her. My cat scratches women fairly often. She’s not fond of the
times I locked her up for a date. But just for snapping on a collar, Rose had
cuts all along her arms for a week.
    I was about to sell Sadie after that, but Rose refused to
let the cat leave. I appreciate her for trying to put up with my pet, but I
don’t want to find her bleeding like that ever again.
    Rose lets out a horrified gasp. “We have rats!” She
disentangles from my arms completely.
    She’s not frightened so much as disgusted by the rodent
hanging out of Sadie’s mouth.
    I rub my lips to hide my smile. “Sadie hunts like a champion.”
I wink.
    Rose plants her hands on her hips and stares at me like really? “You just winked at